Spurs won’t fret about big losses in March

Not long after his championship-contending team had suffered the worst beating of its season, the coach found himself face-to-face with the media charged with dissecting the carnage.

The coach began by praising the team that had administered the whipping, practically thanking his opponent for it.

“The quickest way I’ve found in this league to change habits and collectively grow are through adversity,” Miami’s Erik Spoelstra said March 4, when the Spurs steamrolled his Heat 125-95 at the AT&T Center. “These type of events, as long as they don’t break you, can fast-track what you’re trying to do.”

They are words the Spurs would be wise to heed today, following their own epic smackdown.

Had Monday’s 110-80 table-turning in Miami been a singular event, it might not have been so worrisome.

Instead, the blowout was the Spurs’ third this month against teams likely destined for the playoffs, giving rise to renewed concerns about their preparedness for the postseason.

The Spurs already have posted as many losses in March as in any other month, and those defeats — to Memphis, the Lakers and Miami — have come by an average of 20.7 points.

Asked whether he might use this stretch to provide clues as to where the Spurs go from here, coach Gregg Popovich unleashed his world-famous smirk.

“If it’s this late in the season and we’re looking for clues, I’m in trouble,” Popovich said. “We are who we are. We just try to get better.”

Amid the most adversity of an otherwise charmed season, the Spurs say they will be careful not to panic.

Entering Tuesday, they still owned the NBA’s best record (54-13) and led the Western Conference by a comfortable 61/2 games over Dallas and the Lakers.

Players say they’d prefer this position — tweaking from the top of the playoff bracket — over where they were at this time last season. Then, the Spurs had to win 18 of their final 26 games just to forge a three-way tie for the sixth-through-eighth slots.

“This way is much better,” point guard Tony Parker said.

Lopsided late-season losses aren’t always harbingers of playoff disaster. The Lakers’ stretch run to a second consecutive championship last season included a 100-81 home loss to the Spurs, as well as a 109-92 loss to Atlanta and a 91-75 defeat to Oklahoma City.

Before Monday’s game, Popovich admitted the playoffs already are on his mind. He made his lone lasting lineup change of the season — replacing second-year center DeJuan Blair with veteran big man Antonio McDyess — with an eye on the postseason.

Over the final 15 games, Popovich hopes to walk the fine line between gearing his team up for the postseason and still maintaining focus in the present.

“We are thinking about what has to happen in the playoffs, to some degree,” Popovich said. “But we don’t want to collapse here and lose 10 out of 12 games or something. We want to continue to win and keep our confidence up.”

Though McDyess has played well since his elevation to the starting lineup, the change’s desired effect has yet to take root. In each of the four games since his promotion, the Spurs have allowed at least 103 points.

“We’ve won a few (games) with offense, but that’s not who we are,” Manu Ginobili said. “If we want to win the championship, we have to be the defensive team we used to be. We know that.”

The good news for the Spurs is that they still have 15 games to work on it, and they’ve finally got some adversity to fuel them.